Youthful Spirit

The director froze for a moment.

The vast space fell silent, and no one spoke again.

Lu Zhi slept soundly beside Shen Ranxin's legs.

He had spent no small amount of effort escaping the holding cell last night. Shen Ranxin had originally thought Lu Zhi would charge into the crowd and harm innocent people, but he had merely avoided the Anomaly Management Center's surveillance cameras to find Shen Ranxin.

After finding him, he followed Shen Ranxin back without complaint to the place that had imprisoned him for five years, perhaps for the rest of his life.

He seemed to understand a little what Lu Yeshan had meant when he said, "Shen Ranxin values Lu Zhi more than they do."

He had once thought Shen Ranxin and Wei Huizhi were the same kind of people. Though they were far tougher than ordinary omegas, they were still omegas at their core and needed an Alpha's comfort.

An omega's frailty and kindness were things etched into their DNA.

But Shen Ranxin had told him that was not the case.

On the contrary, his inner strength was extraordinarily powerful. Once he had made up his mind about something, no one could change it—not even himself.

He had endured torment and pain, and his shoulders were strong enough to bear responsibility.

He was ruthless toward everyone, including himself. The tiny bit of gentleness that belonged to an omega, however, he gave entirely to those he loved.

Lu Zhi was the one who needed him.

In truth, the director had once blamed Shen Ranxin for being so heartless.

He had been too strict with Shen Qi, too cruel.

No matter how grave Shen Qi's past mistakes had been, he had spent all these years living in guilt and regret.

If Shen Ranxin had truly felt even